2014 begins the way it ended: with Friday Fictioneers! Hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-fields, it’s a 100 (give or take) story based on a photo prompt. This week’s is below. After reading my entry following the pic, please click > HERE < for the rest. Enjoy!!!
Copyright: Rochelle Wisoff-fields, though, actually, her daughter-in-law (no name given)
Blasted from the Past
By Scott Vannatter – 100 Words
Carolyn stared at the small boy and her knees became weak. Her mind would not comprehend the situation. Instead, it shot back to an old memory of her daughter looking at their dog, Blossom, who had managed to get itself into a tree. The fire department had been called to retrieve the animal. Carolyn’s daughter, Daisy, had died of cancer a year before Hell Day had struck. The last text from her ex-husband had been mixed. He was in a parking garage’s elevator with night crawlers outside. “Don’t come. Love you – too late” had been the final text message.
_________________________
Namaste,
Scott
My first version of this story had Daisy being with her Dad when Hell Day struck. I decided that a mother would have traveled immediately to where the text had come from. This would have made a lot of the already-written story off and it would not have gone well for Carolyn trying to cross a city (or cities?) to battle hordes of night crawlers or, worse yet, to find Daisy gone. I know I would not have ignored trying to find my daughter or son in her situation, so why would she? This, I thought, added to Carolyn’s complex character while still making her human and a mother at that. Let me know what you think.
See Carolyn’s page here on my blog for all of her adventures.
Kindredspirit23's Blog 
Comments
Love this! I’m off to read some more of the story. Happy New Year to you and yours. 🙂
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So glad to hear that!!!
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Oh this is good… I like how you used the dog in the tree to ignite memories… I almost feel it could be an omen… hmm.. Carolyn seems to be hit with bad luck
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I am leaving that to the character – letting her guide me. I try not to think too far ahead right now.
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i think you made the right decision. a great backstory. happy 2014 🙂
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Thank you!
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Having a child’s death in Carolyn’s history could be a strong element of the final story line. Maybe Carolyn will react to this boy in a certain way because of it, or it will affect her actions in situations you haven’t yet written. It’s also the type of backstory that can make a reader care about the character, too.
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I thought about those two things. I have her meet a boy in the current story. We will see where she takes it.
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I was thinking of night crawlers as large versions of the ones used for bait and that would be creepy enough. Speaking of vampires, we just watched “World War Z” recently and although I’m not a big zombie fan, it was quite good!
janet
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I thought that one was done very well. I haven’t purchased it yet, but plan to when the price goes down on amazon.
And, yes, unless you have read the first part of “Keeping Watch”, night crawlers makes little sense.
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I really like your new gravatar, by the way.
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Thank you. It is from my daughter’s wedding a year ago.
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While I haven’t read all the Carolyn story, this little snipit gives us a good glimpse into her character. Hell Day sounds truly hellish.
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Yep, that it is!
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Dear Scott,
This one was a little confusing. I think seeing the boy might have muddied the waters. Aside from that I wonder how she’s going to brave the night crawlers.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Hi Scott,
I couldn’t understand what “the situation” is mentioned at the beginning. Please could you clarify?
Zainab
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Please go to this link and read number 9. That is the situation. This is a continuing series story.
The parts 1-4 at the end are the actual story I have put together.
link: https://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/carolyn-keeping-watch-an-apocalyptic-thriller-in-parts/
Thanks. I love the questions.
Scott
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Scott, I think we’ve met before at a few of Susie’s other Use Me, Abuse Me events. It wasn’t until I saw Namaste, and your name that it dawned…you changed your avatar, right? And are night crawlers zombies or vamps? I’m a smidge confused.
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Yes, I changed the avatar.
Night crawlers are a different breed of zombies. It is explained in part one in the longer sections listed in Carolyn’s page. I did not want to have to adhere to the traditional zombie characters. They are good, but done to death. I wanted something … different.
Scott
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One would have to read your previous work to comprehend this expert.
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Well all of Carolyn’s stories are on my Carolyn page. Feel free to visit read and let me know of any advice, suggestions, or other you might have.
Scott
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